flitterby

I got a Toshiba tablet refurb from Woot and loved it until two iterations of it randomly deciding to encrypt itself, requiring a full wipe to restore it. Googling revealed that some of the units just did that and that Toshiba was not being responsive. It encrypted itself a third time, so back it went, and Woot was great about the return.

I did more research and ended up with a new version of this tablet from a Best Buy, along with the keyboard. I use it at least lightly every day since I got it (about a year ago, I think?) and am using it right now. I thought I would be detaching it more but I LOVE having a hardware keyboard so it usually lives docked, like a mini-laptop. It is a little too big for me to like it undocked as an e-reader as I had originally thought, but the nice screen size makes it great for PDFs.

Case-wise it is quite solid, and holding together well; I clean the dog hair and fingerprints off it periodically and that's all it needs. I didn't bother with a screen protector. The (un)docking clip is VERY well designed though I don't use it much, so it hasn't had a lot of wear in my case.

I got a black "leather" version of the folio case shown in brown above in this thread and find it works very well; the only flaw in the case is that it's hard to take photos from the back camera. It lets you detach the keyboard from the tablet without removing the case; you just unsnap the case and it goes into two pieces. It is not real leather but it is durable. If you aren't taking photos a lot with your tablet, this is what I recommend. Because it is a little thick it makes it thicker to pack and a little hard to swipe from the edge, but I find that a reasonable tradeoff for having a good case. I have dropped the tablet a few times with no damage.

Some of these models have cheaper RAM which means if the tablet is downloading a lot of stuff the responsiveness tanks. I have that issue and I don't know if these will, but it's tolerable if you don't try to multitask much while downloading.

My wifi to my older router running WPA worked flawlessly until I upgraded the tablet to jellybean, and then it stopped working. This is a known bug in Android and is a PITA and some people with older routers may want to be careful. I can still hotspot it in using my desktop running WPA2 at shorter range, and that is okay. I can also use the hotspot from my android phone, so it is not a brick. I am going to upgrade the house router soon and that should resolve it. I have not tried it with WEP but it has connected to hotel WIFI networks well. I wouldn't count on it to do so but if you have a phone that can reliably provide a hotspot for it then that should be fine.

I did a full wipe/restore when trying to resolve the wifi issue and that did perk the behavior of the unit up a bit; it had gotten a bit sluggish because I had overfilled it. I offloaded some things to the extra SD card and it is happier now.

It took a micro-SD card flawlessly so I have tons of space, and I have also shoved a USB flash drive into the slot and it reads that flawlessly as well. I have never tried syncing it to the PC; I'd rather just put stuff onto the flash drive from the PC and copy it onto the tablet.

I use OfficePro rather than the built in office, and Google Drive, and have downloaded Flash from Adobe. (They keep an archive of versions for android, though it's no longer in full support for android.) Flash works with the stock browser and Firefox of the browsers I use, and NOT with Chrome. But Chrome is nice for syncing bookmarks to my Google account. So I just use whatever browser suits whatever I want to do.

The Youtube app was terrible at caching/streaming last I looked (lots of problems with it not buffering sufficiently to assure smooth watching) so I watch youtube straight on the stock browser for better performance. I don't have Netflix streaming but it's fine with Amazon Prime through the browser.

Games have been great on it, and the lavish memory and expansion means it's easy to keep the little piggies handy. (Android games have gotten quite huge in size since tablets came into vogue.)

If my spouse wanted his own tablet (we've been sharing) then I would hop right on this deal. Instead I think I want a smaller one as an ereader and travel tablet and we will share them both between us.

sdc100

alexbecca wrote:I'm a novice at this... Could someone please let me know whether I could load and work on documents from my desktop that were written in Word 2007 and put them back on my desktop? Would I have enough memory to do standard office work?
Is there an Android app comparable to QuickBooks, or would I be limited to QuickBooks online only?
Thanks.

Your best bet is to go to Google Play and do a search of both apps. Here are the results for "MS Office." The suites from Kingsoft and Olive Office seem the most promising, and they're freeKeep in mind that some of the apps are viewers only, so make sure the app you pick can also edit.

If you're only interested in Word documents, and not Excel or Powerpoint, just search on "Word" or "wordprocessing." All of the apps should be able to open Word documents and most will also be able to edit. The question is how extensive your formatting is. For example, do you need tables and footnotes? How about embedded graphics? Make sure your app can do the features you want. Keep in mind that the ability to do tables, for example, doesn't guarantee that it can import docs with tables. Or even more important, the ability to save the doc with table back into Word 97 format. Thr same applies to any advanced formatting featured you need. As an example, I edit medical papers with very advanced formatting, i.e. extensive referencing, many statistical formulas, embedded photo and charts, etc. None of those items import correctly into any other program so I basically only edit the text on my tablet. I then put the text back into Word for the final paper.

surveyah

ManiacDan wrote:I have the t700 and for the first few months it was the best purchase I've ever made. Then the slowness started. Unless these devices are regularly formatted you're going to experience unacceptable slowdown. I blame the RAM, 1GB is not enough for what these devices are attempting to do. Full HD 3D rendering, multitasking, and background downloads just cannot happen on 1GB of RAM. 2GB would solve this issue, but sadly it's not expandable and I find my tablet spends most of its time in my bag while I use a "real" computer. This only exacerbates the problem because the longer the tablet spends turned off, the longer it takes to "catch up" with all my emails, calendars, app updates, etc. I've started an experiment where I keep it on and active at all times in a dock on my desk and grab it for meetings and whenever I go outside, but we'll see if keeping it always up-to-date helps at all. I formatted it yesterday and it's much more responsive, maybe constantly forcing it to be "like new" is what you need to do to make these usable.

To be clear: I'm a software architect who multi-tasks a LOT more than most people. If you want to check facebook and watch a movie, this tablet is more than adequate. If you're looking up software documentation and generating large documents which you're then sharing via screen-sharing to people across the continent, use a real computer.

I have experienced the same slowness when it boots up, but I am pretty sure its because if I leave it off for awhile, it wants to catch up on updating all the apps that need it. Once it finishes doing all that, that it snaps right back to its normal fast response. I turn mine on daily (even if I don't need it) and allow it to update

sdc100

mergyiii wrote:I agree. Can't believe these are still close to 300 bucks. It's good for games, but it doesn't take much googling to find issues with wifi and also simply using a web browser on it ... Read: SUPER SLOW. Oh and lack of out of box flash support is mind boggling...but that is another tangent all together. so yes, it's a great game tablet for the kids, but not a powerhouse by any means for an adult who actually would use it on the web

What are you talking about? Only the TF201, which I have, has Wifi/GPS issues. The TF300 is fine. In fact, even my TF201 is NEVER "super slow." I upload, download, stream videos, etc with no problems and I'm usually about 20-30' away from my router.

As for not being a powerhouse, I edit/convert/compress 30-45 min VOB videos into H264 MP4s on regular basis. Usually takes no more than 15-20 mins. Can a toy tablet do that? Can most phones or tablets, including most iPads?

SUmmary: Yes, the TF201 had reception problems because of its metal back. THe TF300 was designed specifically to correct the flaw, and its plastic back has fixed the problem.

That's what I have, the TF201. In some ways, it is superior to this TF301. But it has two major flaws that led to it being discontinued, giving rise to this cheaper TF300. One of the things people loved about the TF201 is the beautiful textured metal case. Unfortunately, some imbecile engineer forgot that metal interferes radio reception. The result was that a majority of TF201s had very poor WiFi and GPS performance. In fact, the official Asus description has removed GPS from its feature list -- even though the GPS module is still in the tablet!

The TF300 has replaced the metal back with a cheaper plastic panel. But it also removed the LED flash for some unknown reason (but added a BSI sensor). And the TF201 has a Super IPS+ display while the TF300 only has IPS. Finally, the TF201 with keyboard was rated for 18 hrs while this TF300 is only 15 hrs.

After comparing specs, I did decide to go for the older TF201. No regrets so far because my WiFi is just fine and I have yet to need the GPS.

sdc100

tigerxchaos wrote:Can this tablet be folded up to close completely like a laptop while still docked with the keyboard? Or is it basically a situation where the keyboard stays in one place and you remove the tablet when you want to move?

WHen docked, it works exactly like a laptop so yes, it can close. In fact, that's usually the way I store my tablet because the keyboard protects the tablet's screen when folded.

sdc100

lunchboxxpiper wrote:I'm looking to get this to store and view all my PDF files of sheet music. Anyone have any experience with that or something similar on this tablet?

You shouldn't have any problems. In fact, a cheap closeout $49 tablet should be fine for your purposes. Essentially, you're using it as an eBook reader, which takes very little power and memory. You might even consider getting an eInk unit, i.e. like the original KIndle, if you want the screen to simulate paper as much as possible and don't need color.

planetross

After many months of hands-on time with Kindle Fire and RAZR HD, I'm losing my affection for all things Android. After test-driving various iPads and the MSFT Surface Pro, I find myself leaning towards Win8 on Surface Pro (seriously). Should I simply give up and go back to the Etch-A-Sketch?

chrisautrey

Mejen wrote:Please help a complete novice! Is it possible to hook this up to a cable internet connection? This does skype, correct? Thank you so much in advance!

Out of the box you cannot hook this directly up to your cable modem.

If you have a wireless router connected to your cable modem, you connect to that and it works fine. You can buy extra stuff to make it connect without wireless, but as a novice I don't think you want to do that.

Mejen

chrisautrey wrote:Out of the box you cannot hook this directly up to your cable modem.

If you have a wireless router connected to your cable modem, you connect to that and it works fine. You can buy extra stuff to make it connect without wireless, but as a novice I don't think you want to do that.

You can put Skype on this.

Thank you so much for this incredibly helpful post, I very much appreciate it!

obob

msjoanne wrote:Refurbs are 100% tested. New items go through random sampling QA ( if that). I've bought everything from Apple iPods to large televisions at SIGNIFICANT savings and have yet to regret a single purchase. I've actually come to prefer refurbs because I know they're going to work.

Hear! Hear!

I could not agree more.
Well, except for the buying $Apple products part...

I have the first model Transformer and dock, still working fine. When docked, it basically IS a netbook.

renais

p2367 wrote:is there an email app, similar to Outlook Express? I'm thinking of not getting a replacement for my desktop (or, rather, replacing it with a tablet). Can I use the USB to access the hard drives I've collected from my departed Windows machines? They've got email archives and music and pics that I'd like to be able to get to.

---
About mail: Android comes with a stock mail program; I've used it on 4.0 & 4.3 with ease. I know other people who've downloaded the free K-9 mail client, due to personal preference rather than any problems with the stock one.

grouchycat

1. The trackpad on the keyboard is very easy to bump accidentally. I was not able to determine if there is an app that will turn it off.

I bought this exact tablet+keyboard dock from another site about 6 weeks ago, and I love it. It has a dedicated key on the dock to turn the trackpad on & off. (4th from the left, top row; you can see it in the 4th picture, the one of all the parts laid out separately, if you zoom in.)

neobigdan

alinder wrote:I had a chance to try a tablet like this at work for a brief while. There are two things that kept me from buying one:

1. The trackpad on the keyboard is very easy to bump accidentally. I was not able to determine if there is an app that will turn it off.

2. The right shift key is small, and I was regularly hitting an arrow key instead when attempting to type.

There is a key on the keyboard right above the number 3 key that turns the trackpad off. That exact issue was thought about and addressed with its own button, and it works great.
I've had this tablet for about 6 months, and got the keyboard from woot during a woot-off and love the extra battery and how you get a laptop experience out of it. I would highly recommend this deal, the tablet goes for $300 and the keyboard another $60-80 depending on where you get it.

jespensc

I bought the TF700 a couple weeks ago -- I really like both the tablet and the fabulous keyboard dock. However there's one question that might also apply to the TF300:

Is there a way to adjust the screen resolution? For example, a mode utility, or a version of Xrandr for Android? All I can find in the Play Store are for external displays.

For the TF300 it would be great to be able to scale the display down to 640x400 WVGA for presentation use without a projector. In my case, I just want to adjust the TF700's 1920x1200 screen to native resolution. (By default the TF700 scales the display to 1280x800 -- the same as this TF300, and a terrible waste of an otherwise-beautiful 1920x1200 screen. I'm having flashbacks to the post-install configuration of Win8 on my 1080p laptop which defaulted to 150% screen scaling. Grrrr.

missannnthropist

i'm curious if having this on all day to stream music/get emails is better than having say a netbook or laptop running all day. i have been using an android phone strictly for streaming pandora and checking emails so i dont burn out my laptop fan/hard drive but getting tired of the tiny screen when it comes to answering emails or doing web searches.

jespensc

chrisautrey wrote:Out of the box you cannot hook this directly up to your cable modem.

If you have a wireless router connected to your cable modem, you connect to that and it works fine. You can buy extra stuff to make it connect without wireless, but as a novice I don't think you want to do that.

Adding to the comment above: Setting up a wired network connection does require an extra piece of hardware, but if it solves some other difficult problem, don't be frightened off by the prospect.

To add wired Ethernet, Amazon sells the "ASUS USB Hub and Ethernet Port Combo" (about the size of the power adapter+cable) for $20 shipped. I can confirm that it "just works" on the TF700 & TF300 Transformer tablets *if* you have the keyboard dock. When you plug it in, it automagically adds an ethernet option to the settings menu, and sets itself up (defaults to activating the connection & using DHCP). See: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008OMGT4C/ With this and a network cable, you can connect directly to a cable/DSL/office network if wireless is not an option.

Bonus good & bad: The same dongle also adds 3x more USB2 ports, but they're not externally powered. (E.g. a USB mouse, thumbdrive and smartcard reader are fine, but you can't plug in a stack of external hard drives without their own power.) Still, it's a terribly useful little doodad to have.

calvim

I picked up the TF700t on a previous woot and love it. The extra battery life provided by the dock makes this tablet good for a at least 8 hours with constant wifi usage. I think it advertises more hours but probably doesn't take into account what a battery hog I am.

ASUS does a great job with upgrading firmware and I am hard pressed finding a better camera app for my phone than the default camera that came with this.

Flash is not supported on these models by firefox. Flash has been discontinued for android anyways, but if you go the route of installing archived flash support, note that it still won't work with some browsers and the hardware in the tf200 and 300 series don't meet the approval of Mozilla.

Plug a mouse into the USB, and it serves as a decent laptop. The tf700 I picked up came with a splashtop, a remote desktop app, but I shelled out a few bucks for the HD version and now it runs my gaming rig remotely, within splashtop's limitations(windowed mode only, no fps games). One of these comes with a lot of potential utility depending on what you want to use it for.

sdc100

missannnthropist wrote:i'm curious if having this on all day to stream music/get emails is better than having say a netbook or laptop running all day. i have been using an android phone strictly for streaming pandora and checking emails so i dont burn out my laptop fan/hard drive but getting tired of the tiny screen when it comes to answering emails or doing web searches.

It's rather expensive to use this as a media streaming and email device. YOu can get a cheap $79 tablet to do those things. Just make sure it has Bluetooth if you need it.

sdc100

Mejen wrote:Please help a complete novice! Is it possible to hook this up to a cable internet connection? This does skype, correct? Thank you so much in advance!

Others have already given you great advice on Internet connections so I'll just talk about Skype. Yes, you can do both audio Skype and video Skype. The speaker sounds great but you can also use headphones.

sdc100

calvim wrote:I picked up the TF700t on a previous woot and love it. The extra battery life provided by the dock makes this tablet good for a at least 8 hours with constant wifi usage. I think it advertises more hours but probably doesn't take into account what a battery hog I am.

ASUS does a great job with upgrading firmware and I am hard pressed finding a better camera app for my phone than the default camera that came with this.

Flash is not supported on these models by firefox. Flash has been discontinued for android anyways, but if you go the route of installing archived flash support, note that it still won't work with some browsers and the hardware in the tf200 and 300 series don't meet the approval of Mozilla.

Plug a mouse into the USB, and it serves as a decent laptop. The tf700 I picked up came with a splashtop, a remote desktop app, but I shelled out a few bucks for the HD version and now it runs my gaming rig remotely, within splashtop's limitations(windowed mode only, no fps games). One of these comes with a lot of potential utility depending on what you want to use it for.

1) re: Camera ... I agree, it's great and has many options to choose from, making it better than your average phone and laptop camera. Too bad the TF300 removed the LED flash.

2) There are apps to help lower energy usage by automatically turning WiFi on and off, among other strategies. I've found them buggy but others have had great success. I basically lower the CPU speed, dim the display, and turn off bluetooth, and my battery life is very good.

3) Adding a mouse, as you do, would give you THREE methods of input: Trackpad, touchscreen and mouse. Do you really need so many? There is even a 4th method of input, Voice recognition.

sdc100

Here's a hint:
My first must-have app is Swype. It is one of the few Android apps with no equivalence on the iPad and it makes iPad users seethe with envy. Basically, it allows you to type by swiping your finger cross the virtual keyboard. By looking at the direction of your swipes to predict words, precise finger placement is no longer important. Because you never lift your finger, entry becomes much faster and less tiring. In fact, the recent text messaging World Record was achieved with the use of Swype. Get it FREE on Google Play.

sdc100

pakopako wrote:Here is a related question. I have a TF700 with dock; any reason to look at the refurb'd TF201? (Other than they use the same dock?)

They seem to have the same specs, just that the TF201 has a metal back.

No reason at all since the TF700 is superior to the TF201 in many ways. Among the the better specs are: HD display, superior camera, and faster clock speed. And of course, the plastic back solved the WiFi and GPS problems of the TF201. Be satisfied with what you have. I'm jealous.

pakopako

calvim wrote:The extra battery life provided by the dock makes (the TF700) good for a at least 8 hours with constant wifi usage. I think it advertises more hours but probably doesn't take into account what a battery hog I am.

I second that. I thought it was because the system was a refurb, but the estimates were made with low-power, dim screen, and playing a 720p movie. Not going on YouTube watching an HD clip on Auto-Bright.

calvim wrote:Flash is not supported on these models by firefox. Flash has been discontinued for android anyways, but if you go the route of installing archived flash support, note that it still won't work with some browsers and the hardware in the tf200 and 300 series don't meet the approval of Mozilla.

The hardware does the what-what? For the most part, archived versions of flash work decently with Android 4.x (ICS, JB). I've only found a few flash games that won't work, but it is likely because the need more RAM. (Epic Battle Fantasy 4, I'm looking at you!)

sdc100 wrote:No to the TF201 in many ways. Among the reasons (the TF700 is better than the TF201): HD display, superior camera, and faster clock speed. And of course, the plastic back solved the WiFi and GPS problems of the TF201. Be satisfied with what you have. I'm jealous.

Funny, I'm a bit jealous of your more rugged machine with its double battery life and well-balanced dock. (The TF700 tips over if you open it all the way... and blow on it.)

phizbam

Ordered this item on 9/10/2013 and received it extremely promptly on 9/13/2013. Unfortunately, it was DOA and would not even boot up.

Had to call ASUS for support, and after troubleshooting, obtain an RMA to return it for repair.

1) According to their records, the item was out of the warranty period. I had to email a copy of my invoice to show proof of when I purchased the item. I now have to wait 3 business days for them to review the email and get the warranty information updated.

2) I have to pay to ship the item in for repair, although they will cover the shipping for the return. Not the best policy considering the thing has never worked at all.

While the experience with ASUS tech support/customer service was pretty good, the process to return sucks.

tiredoftry

sdc100 wrote:My Asus has no problems with time accuracy. It is synced with my network whenever I'm online, and the internal clock keeps accurate time even when I'm not. I just checked and it matches my atomic clock (and cellphone and cable box) to the second.

It sounds like you have a faulty unit. Have you turned on the auto-sync option in Settings?

Yep used autosync as well. It works for a while, but when not on wifi it really loses it

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